Arthur parsey



AQARSEY.-

A13 ENGINE. n

Patented JulyV 31, 1847:.

QUQP

m; @En anni co, movaumm WASHINGTON, d. c.

UNTTED sTATEs PATENT ARTHUR PARSEY, 0F LEIoEsTER- SQARE, GREAT BRTAI'NL CONDENSED-AIR ENGINE;

speciacation of Letters Patent No.- 5,205; dated July e1', 1847'.

To all 1.0250117, t may concern Be it known that I, ARTHUR PARSEY, of No. 2 Spur street, Leicester Square, in the county of Middlesex and Kingdom of Engl land2v artist an'd scientific draftsmama sub` ject of theV Queen of Great Britain, have invented Improvements in Obtaining Motive Power; and' I dohereby declare that the fol`- lowing is a full and exact description of my said invention.

Thesef improvements in obtaining motive power consist inV certain modifications of machinery by means of which compressed` air may be employed to work, without a vacuum, p1stons5. valves, levers, rods and other appendages for the purpose of pro-f ducing mechanical force and communicating that forcej asa motive power for driving other machinery. 1

Inthe'accompanying drawing Figure l is a*- lon'gitudinal section taken through the middle` of anl engine upon( wheels, con-y structed according to my improved plan which is" intendedI to be employed as a locomotive engine' upon a railway. A repre sents ax strong iron vessel or receiver made' perfectly air tight at all: its joints, into whichl vesselr I introduce atmospheric air by means of a forcing pump or otherwise until the air withini thef vessel has become greatly compressed' and thereby acquired a very considerable elastic forceor power.- I- proposeV in compressed air from the'receiver (A) passesl on its way to the cylinder through a cham-4 y ber (D) where it expands preparatory toits entrance in the cylinder (B) that the air may act onthe piston withv the same force during the` entire operation of the engine, which would not be the case if it were permitted to go directly from the receiver intoV the cylinder, as the air at the commencement is much more dense than toward the end. There is a cylinder (w the upper end of j the chamber (D) to whichis ttedl af pistoni or valve (b) having a spring? (5) that forces it down with a giyen' force'accordingi. to the degree of tension given'to by the regulatin'gscrew (0') The rod (ef)ofitliisy piston or valve is connected with the handle) of the'throttlevalfve in' the pipe` (a) soA that when the pressure Aof the air in the chamber 1s abovef the standard required for' working.

the' engine' the piston'- isV forcedupwhiclrcloses theV throttle valve to' arrest the'V passage of air from thefreceiver into the Vcharnber',. and5 the moment! the 'pressure' is reduced'- below the standard the pistonf is forcedV gdown by the'y spring to openf theftr'ottle and`v admit more air;l inA this kway thev proper.v

"standard cany be' preserved' until the a-ir mi Y fthe receiver 1s reduced below the`4 standard. iI'. would; remark however that in someI cases the chamber D may be dispensedwitlrand' :the compressed air allowed' to` pass directly. from the receiver to' the' working. cylinder.-

The compressed air from the receiver 'Agbe-v `ing admitted into thev chamber D is-.thence allowed to pass by a pipe andcockI clatothe'f valve boX CZ.

so? The' reciprocal action' of ther sliding'. valve' is effected by the` usual meansv by whichl slide valves are workedl in order that the compressedV air may beV admitted into=the working cylinder reciprocally' above and' below the piston as inl the working of ordinary steam engines. 'Ihe peculiar construction of the slide kvalve and its boXgfor Y admitting the compressed air into thecylfj. inder and letting it olf after it has actedv upon the piston is shown' upon anenlarged `scale inthe several sectional representations of the val've boX detached at Figs. 5, 6, 7 andv 8; Thethickness or substance of the'boxV is .shown at cZ, d', in Vwhich e,y the slide .valve is moved up and down by its rod f.- Figs. 5j-

V and 6= supposed to be connected above t'o the ordinary reciprocating tappet apparatusof, thek engine. The slide valve is formed by a rectangular frame g, g,k g, g, seen in.V Fig'. 6 wthtwo plates/L, a-shownfinf Fig. 7, their Vfaces, being ground accurately fla-t so as to fit close and air tight against theinnersides- A of the valve boX el, and there alla springsV i, i, placed between these plates which forceVV them outward and keepV them in-A closecontact with theinner sides of thebozc- A ver`r tical channel is formedin one o f the side plates seen at le; inFig. 8 byv which-the compressed air from the pipeopasses both uploo Ill() ward and downward into the valve box. There are two openings one above-the other in the opposite side of the valve box at Z,

and m, Fig. 5, by which the compressedair is admitted into the cylinder B. When the slide valve is depressed as in Fig. 5 the air passes through Z and acts -uponithe`upper surface of the piston C the lower opening m being then closed but when the slide valve is raised the upper opening l becomes closed and the lower one m opened by which the air is admitted tothe under surface ofthe piston. By means of the reciprocating action of the slide valve the compressed airis enabled alternately to raise and depress the piston the air escaping after each stroke as in high pressure-steam engines. The movements of the piston effected by thesemeans are communicated through the piston rod'to the connecting rod n, and thence' to the crank p', by which the front running wheels of the carriage are made to revolve and hence the carriage impelled forward upon the railway. One or more corresponding working pistons and cylinders with the appendages of the same construction'may be placed along side of that exhibited in the drawing Fig. 1 as represented in the end view Fig. 3 observing that the stroke of one of the pistons must be regulated so as to act at the dead points of the other for the purpose of producing as near as may be an uniform impelling force.. T

In Vorder to economize the compressed air I propose under some circumstances instead of allowing it to blow off like the steam of a high pressure engine, to return the compressed air into the receiver A after it has acted upon the piston. This I effect by the arrangement shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of a locomotive engine. Fig. 3 is an end view of the same. A is the vessel or receiver as before illed with Vcompressed air by the means above stated. c, is the pipe and cock by which the compressed air is admitted into the valve box d, and by the slide valve let 0H into the cylinder B to act alternately upon the upper and lower surfaces of the piston C as before explained. To the apparatus that works the slide valve represented in Fig. 2 one end of a lever g, is attached which is connected at the other end to a vertical rod 7', whereon the slides of the valves s, 1, s7` 2, are fixed that open and close the eduction passages. On the working piston risingto the top of the cylinder the arrangement of the valves will cause the lower eduction aperture at s2, to be opened, when the air in the cylinder instead of blowing 0H' w'illpass by a pipe t, to a peculiar construction-of pump placed within the compressed air receiver A. This pump is formed by a cylindrical block E lixed upon a standard and hasA a tube or passage through it with a valve at top opening upward. Upon the block E a cylindrical sliding cap F is placed with a valve in its top opening upward. rlhis cap which I prefer to be of equal capacity with the cylinder or nearly so is made to fit air tight by packing round the upper edge of the block andV is raised and depressed by a sliding rod u, passing through a stuffing box and attached at top to a lever Gr. This lever may be worked by hand or by any other means and the cap F being raised at the moment that the lower eduction passages?, is opened the valve on its top will close and the .air pass from the cylinder under the piston C through the pipe t, and the passage in the block E into the space produced in the cap F as it rises. On the descent of the piston C in the cylinder VB the transfer of the condensed air from the cylinder into the cap F takes place and causes the cap to be occupied with the air but when the piston C again rises the cap F will be made to descend and the lower eduction passages s2, in the cylinder being closed the air cannot return, but is forced through the opening valve out of the cap F into the receiver A.` Another block I-I of precisely the same character as that at E is also fixed within the condensed air receiver A having a similarcylindrical cap sliding upon it which cap I isintended to receive eduction passages s2, in the cylinder being from the cylinder B on the upper side of the piston C. From the upper eduction aperture s l, a pipe o, extends which passes through the block H for the purpose of carrying the discharged air from the working cylinder into Vthe cap I. Hence it will be perceived that in accordance with the action of the piston C in the working cylinder B the caps F and I will be made to reciprocate and thereby draw olf the volumes of condensed air above and below the piston and force the volumes of air in their condensed state into the receiver A to be passed again through the Vpipe c, and valve box d, into the cylinder and employed for keeping up the continued action of the piston.

The lever G may be elongated in front and connected in the usual way of connecting a beam with the 'working piston as shown in Figures 2 and 3 and to this lever may also be attached the rod u for working the slide valves in the way shown as well for working the caps above described. The lever Gr it has been said may be actuated by hand or other meansV for raising and depressing the caps F and I but it may be desirable for this purpose to employ a small steam engine as shown at K placed at the back part of the carriage in Fig. 2. In that case the hinder Vpart of the lever Gr must be elongated and the piston of the small steam engine attached to it by which the vibrating action of the leverV Gnv shall be eiected.

Fig. 4 represents in section a portion of` one of the pipes t, or fu, by which the con- *i densed air is conducted back from the cylinder to the receiver. In this pipe I place a series of valves a z z each acting as a stop to prevent the air passing from the receiver to the cylinder and whichV may be placed at equal or unequal distances apart but I prefer to place them at unequal distances so that the capacity of the chamber may increase from the receiver toward the cylinder.

I will observe that several smallerv receivers may be combined instead of one large receiver from whence the chamber D maybe charged with condensed air or from whence the air mayrpass directly to the working cylinder or cylinders. This improved engine may also be employed to promachinery. Y

Iclaim as my invention- The chamber provided with the spring Y valve or piston to regulate the elastic force of the air as it passes from the receiver to the cylinder', in combination with the induction passage or passages, as described.

' In witness whereof I the said ARTHUR PARSEY have hereto set my hand and'k seal Y this thirteenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty ve.

ARTHUR PARSEY. [La] Witnesses:

A. V. NEWTON, J. W. MOFFAVTT. 

